Come join Embrace Richmond for a special series of Mission Shift Training hosted by the Belmont United Methodist Church! Mission Shift: Overview When: Sunday, February 21 Time: 1-3 PM *Lunch will be served from 12:15-1:00 PM, suggested donation of $8* Mission Shift: Session 1 When: Thursday, February 25 Time: 6-8 PM *Dinner will be served from 5:15-5:50 PM, suggested donation of $8* Mission Shift: Session 2 When: Thursday, March 3 Time: 6-8 PM *Dinner will be served from 5:15-5:50 PM, suggested donation of $8* Mission Shift: Session 3 When: Thursday, March 17 Time: 6-8 PM *Dinner will be served from 5:15-5:50 PM, suggested donation of $8* Persons wishing to participate in the Mission Shift training to be held at Belmont UMC should email their intent to: belmontumcrichmond@gmail.com no later than February 18th for planning...

Come join Embrace Richmond for a special series of Mission Shift Training hosted by the Union Presbyterian Seminary! This training is open to Union students, alumni and friends of the seminary. Mission Shift: Overview When: Monday, February 22 Time: 6-8 PM Mission Shift: “Needs” to “Assets” When: Monday, February 29 Time: 6-8 PM Mission Shift: “Working Our Plan” to “Joining God’s Work” When: Monday, March 7 Time: 6-8 PM Details: The sessions will be held in Lake Chapel, Early Center and dinner will be served 5:45-6:00 PM each night. The price of dinner is $5 for non-students. Click here to register...

This summer Embrace Richmond partnered with congregations and community-based organizations to expand ABCD efforts into six neighborhoods across Metro-Richmond through our Summer Dream Catcher project. The goal of the project is to teach neighborhood youth how to do effective community listening so that they discover what their neighbors care enough about to act upon. Throughout the summer the youth conduct interviews. At the end of the summer, they host a community-wide celebration and share with their neighbors what they learned. The project was a smashing success. All the communities that completed the project and hosted convening meetings, had between 20 and 100 neighbors show up for their year-end celebrations and all of them had enough neighbors interested in getting involved to start action teams. Most importantly, residents in every neighborhood agreed to lead the projects that emerged from the listening effort. The youth who participated in this project have exceeded our expectations; so we are not ready to let them go! This year, we are doing something new. We are inviting the youth who completed the project and who want to continue on in leadership roles to become year-long interns. They will each receive a small stipend and each will work with adult mentors to custom design an internship experience that best utilizes their gifts, talents and passions. In the coming months, we will be sharing stories of how these youth are working with their neighbors to be the change they want to see in their communities. You can play a roll in these youths’ lives this week during the Amazing Raise, a 36-hour fundraiser on Sept. 16 and...

September 18-19 Embrace will be part of the Amazing Raise, a 36 hour fundraising push sponsored by Give Richmond. Our goal is to raise $5,000 in 24 hours. Embrace’s theme for the Amazing Raise is Great Neighbors Build Great Neighborhoods. Wendy explains the theme as follows: Good neighbors seek to be a blessing to the people on their street. They drive slowly, don’t cut their yard at 6am on a Saturday, they let you know when your teen sneaks out the window, they don’t let their dog squat in your yard, they watch your house when you are out of town. We have all known and probably seek to be good neighbors. But “great neighbors” are a rare jewel to be treasured. Great neighbors not only seek to be a blessing to those around them, they seek to be a blessing to the entire community. These are the neighbors who coordinate community-wide events so people get to know one another, they coordinate neighborhood watch programs, they pray faithfully for the neighborhood, they serve on the PTA or civic association, they open their homes to the neighborhood youth. They seek the shalom of a place and we are all blessed when we live in a neighborhood with great neighbors. Great neighbors come in a variety of forms. Some are old and others are young. Some live, some work and some worship in the place they seek to be a blessing to. Some serve quietly behind the scenes and others are natural connectors who have never met a stranger. Some are new to the neighborhood and some have lived their entire life...

During this tour, participants will see community development efforts in three distinctly different settings and stages – a mature expression in a public housing community, a one year old expression in a church setting and a our brand new efforts in a commercial corridor of our city. Embrace Richmond is a faith-based 501(c)3 non-profit organization founded on Christian principles and dedicated to strengthening communities through an asset-based community development approach. Embrace Richmond seeks to strengthens communities by training, coaching, and connecting community and congregational leaders who desire to be agents of change in their neighborhoods. Want to learn more about Embrace Richmond? Join us for the “Embrace the Streets Tour” Date: May 4 Time: 9:00-11:30 AM Location: Northminster Church Foyer 3121 Moss Side Ave. We will be visiting the Hillside Court Community, Brookland Park Boulevard and learning more about church-based development from our friends at Northminster Church. All three sites will require some walking, however accommodations can be made for those who need assistance. We will also spend some time outside so please dress in accordance with the weather. Space on the the tour is limited so please make your reservation today! Questions and registration. Contact Jimmy Sanford at jimmy@embracerichmond.org or...